Grave Secret - Charlaine Harris [49]
Drex got his fresh beer, and Victoria asked him some questions designed to get him to talk about himself. Drex was not the brightest guy I’d ever met, and Victoria was a sharp woman, so by simply sitting and listening it became easy to draw a picture of Drex’s life. His dad had probably had a hard time accepting that his only son wasn’t competent to handle the family affairs, but there was no denying that Lizzie was not only the oldest but the sharpest. Katie, the middle kid, was wilder than either of her siblings. At least Drex thought so.
I was relieved when our food came. I was not a private investigator, and I wasn’t being paid to absorb all these long stories about the Joyce family. By the time I’d eaten as much as I wanted, I was tired to death of Drex Joyce, and I wasn’t happy at being in league with Victoria to pump this moron for information. However irritating I found her tactics, I could understand why Victoria had decided to include Drex as a guest at dinner. It was easier for us to alternate in the conversation so he didn’t seem to understand where it was going, and presumably he told us more than he might have otherwise.
I also thought of a few questions that Victoria didn’t.
I decided that Victoria had wanted to give Drex a choice of attractive women, and I was relieved that Drex had decided Victoria was more to his taste than I. I took a malicious pleasure in excusing myself early, before the waitress had asked about coffee and dessert. Victoria looked dismayed for a fleeting second, and then she said she’d talk to me the next day.
I thought not, not if I could avoid it. I dislike feeling used, and I was sure Victoria had deliberately planned the evening before she’d invited me. She could have been honest with me. I couldn’t understand why she felt the need to resort to such a thing. Surely, if the Joyce family had hired her, they would cooperate with her in the most extreme way. Why hadn’t Victoria gotten all this information already?
I drove back to the hotel feeling disgruntled. Since the rain had stopped, I decided it was time for some activity. I didn’t like to run at night, but I really needed to do something physical. I hadn’t had time to explore the area in any detail, but a block behind the hotel I’d seen a large high school. Maybe I could run on its track, if the gate was unlocked. If I couldn’t get in, there was a big bus yard across the road from the high school.
To my surprise, Parker Powers, the ex-football player turned cop, was sitting in the lobby.
“Were you waiting for me?” I asked, going up to him.
“Yes. Can we talk?” He gave me a very thorough look.
“What do you need?” I asked.
“I wanted to ask you a few more questions about your brother. There was a drive-by a couple of blocks away last night, and we’re trying to find out if your brother’s shooting was related. I hear he’s doing well.”
If he hadn’t said that, I wouldn’t have bitten. I’d seen that gleam in his eye. But if he was genuinely investigating Tolliver’s shooting, I wanted to help him. I wanted to know who’d shot my brother. I wasn’t going to talk about it in the public lobby anymore, though, and with that gleam in his eye, I wasn’t going to ask him up to my room.
“I’m going for a run,” I said. “Care to join me?”
“Sure,” he said, with only a brief hesitation. “I’ve got running shorts in my car. You know, you really shouldn’t be going out by yourself if someone is gunning for your brother. We have no idea why he was shot, yet. Might be related to the drive-by, might not.”
“I’ll be back in ten minutes,” I said, and went upstairs to my room. I had a lanyard from which was suspended a clear plastic rectangular holder,